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A major appearance
A man who has been mentioned quite often, but never seen, for a number of years ever since the show began, a pawn of the vituperative Allison Wentzel is finally seen in the flesh, as the youngest Abbott sibling, Matthew, is finally seen in the flesh. Scene One The lobby of WBOS-TV. A man is waiting for a meeting. He is considering to be a highly recommended candidate to help Rose Wilson to run the news department. His name is Jonathan Donaldson, the brother of Dylan's former lawyer, Martin Donaldson, who is now running the Harper Industries' London office's legal department. Finally, Craig Atchley and Caitlyn Lambert comes to meet him. CAITLYN (smiling): Jonathan Donaldson? JONATHAN: Yes. I am Jonathan Donaldson. CRAIG: Very nice to meet you, sir, I am Craig Atchley, the owner of the station, and this is Caitlyn Lambert, the station manager. JONATHAN: Very nice to meet you both. (Jonathan smiles at Caitlyn, who smiles back) CRAIG: I have looked at your file. You have some excellent credentials, Mr. Donaldson. Several years at Granada TV in Manchester, yes? JONATHAN: Yes, I worked on the ITV news. CRAIG: That is good. I want you to know is that news here in the states is different here than what you are used to I am sure. JONATHAN: Not really, Mr. Atchley. The UK news is as bad there as it is here sometimes. (Caitlyn, Craig and Jonathan laugh; Rose enters) CAITLYN: Hi, Rose. ROSE: Hi, Caitlyn. This the new candidate? CRAIG: Yes, Rose. Jonathan Donaldson, this is my sister in-law, Rose Wilson. ROSE: I remember your brother, Martin saying something about you. JONATHAN: Yes, I also remember your brother. Martin always had good things to say about him. ROSE: I saw your credentials, and I am in agreement. You'll be perfect for the job. CAITLYN: Well, Jonathan, welcome to WBOS. (Jonathan smiles again at Caitlyn. She is definitely interested in the newcomer. A development not missed on the rest of the group.) Scene Two Louisburg Square. Jacqueline Haller is headed back to her home. She comes across a man walking towards Anne Whittenberg's home. The man turns around and looks at Jacqueline. MAN: You look so familiar. JACQUELINE: How? I haven't ever seen you around here before. MAN: I am sorry. I should have introduced myself. You look so much like my late daughter. JACQUELINE: Your daughter? MAN: I had a daughter, that I had never really had a chance to see. Two of them actually. I never got to see either one of them. JACQUELINE: What was their names? MAN: One was named Lyla Ann, the other one was named Catherine. JACQUELINE: Wait a minute, Catherine was my mother's name. MAN: You mean, Catherine was your mother? JACQUELINE: Yes, I really didn't get a chance to see her, myself. She passed away about four years ago in Hawaii. And I was adopted out so I never got to know her either. MAN: Who told you about Catherine? JACQUELINE: My aunt Monica. MAN: I remember Monica. She was Allison's sister. (Jacqueline is baffled at this revelation) JACQUELINE: How did you know Allison Wentzel? MAN: She was a wicked woman who seduced me when I was younger. JACQUELINE (it finally dawns on her who he is): Wait a minute! You're Matthew Abbott, are you not? MATTHEW: Yes, I am. JACQUELINE: Oh my GOD! It's you! You're my grandfather! Mom was your daughter! MATTHEW: Jacqueline? Oh my God! It is you. You're as beautiful as your pictures showed. (Anne Whittenberg comes out. She is astonished.) ANNE: Matthew?! Is it you?! MATTHEW: Anne! How are you? ANNE: Oh, it's great to see you again! I haven't seen you in a while. (Matthew and Anne hug) MATTHEW: I am just getting to know Jacqueline here. ANNE: That's right. She is your granddaughter. (Jacqueline is hugging her grandfather.) Scene Three Dylan's house. The news of Matthew Abbott arriving in Boston is the talk of the neighborhood. MARILYN: Who was Matthew Abbott? SHEILA: He was a family friend, Aunt Marilyn. His sister, Denise, was our family attorney for many years, as was their father before Denise. He had apparently been seduced by Allison Wentzel, my former mother in-law. She had done so while she was married to Robert. She gave birth to her daughter, Catherine. Catherine, for a long time, was passed off as Robert's by Allison, but Matthew was her real father. MARILYN: Sounds intriguing. SHEILA: Kind of, Aunt Marilyn, but it wasn't for Jacquie. MARILYN: What do you mean? SHEILA: Jacquie had been adopted right out of Catherine's arms when she was just a baby. It was all Allison's scheme. She did not want to be reminded of her adultery, so she plucked Jacquie right out of her mother's arms and sent her off to an adoption agency. She grew up not knowing her blood family! MARILYN: And you mean Matthew knew nothing of it? SHEILA: That was all a part of Allison's scheme. She passed Catherine off as Robert's child all those years. She lied to everyone in the family, and nearly shredded three families in the process. Not just her own family, but by extension, everyone else involved. MARILYN: That is absolutely awful. Did you ever meet Matthew? SHEILA: No, unfortunately. Not until Jacqueline introduced me to him. It's funny, we've known the Abbotts most of our lives, and we'd not met Matthew. Not until now. MARILYN: Are we all going to meet him eventually? SHEILA: I talked with Dylan, and we're having a party here at the townhouse. So we will all meet him here. MARILYN: That sounds like a good time. SHEILA: I talked with Dylan and he's in with the kitchen staff talking about a menu and the other things. MARILYN: I cannot wait for this. (Sheila and Marilyn continue to have their tea.) Scene Four Utica, New York. Allison gets a copy of the newspaper. She is appalled at what she sees. ALLISON: Well, well, well. I see Matthew has slithered out of the ether. I am thinking that he is trying to explain what is going on. All he is doing is solidifying the damage that I had inflicted to the family! Him being around is making me ill. I would go to Boston, but I was ordered quite to stay out of there. I guess, I have to realize that it was inevitable he was going to see his granddaughter. Wasn't much I could do about it. (Allison threw the paper in the fireplace. It was burned up fast. She got up and went to the kitchen, for another lonely meal.) Scene Five Back at Dylan's townhouse, some hours later. It was evening and the party is just beginning. Dylan and Adam are holding forth; Sheila and Allen are helping them out, and Jacqueline is enjoying the evening. Matthew is talking with his sisters, Anne and Marge. Lyla Ann is looking at the scene. She had talked with Matthew earlier in the day and they established a relationship. LYLA ANN: A lovely party it is, Dylan. DYLAN: Thank you, Lyla Ann. I hope I didn't overstep my bounds to have everyone over for you and your dad. LYLA ANN: I am all right with it. ANNGELIQUE: It is a great party all across the board. MARILYN: Nice party, guys. SHEILA: Thank you, Aunt Marilyn. ADAM: And the best part, no Rhonda Whittenberg. She's in prison! ANNGELIQUE: That is the best part of it! (Everyone laughs) ANNE: I have to admit that I have missed talking with you. Remember our chats when we were kids? MATTHEW: Yes, we had some good conversations. MARGE: You two were so close. I swear. You two were close. I had William and Denise, but you two were the close ones. ANNE: It is great to have him around. (Enter a young woman.) MATTHEW: Ladies, I don't know if you had ever known, but this is Denise's daughter. ANNE: Denise's daughter? MATTHEW: She had me raise her after Arvin left her. MARGE: Arvin Stewart? The former DC prosecutor? MATTHEW: Yes. He died a few years ago. WOMAN: Hi everyone. ANNE: Hello. MATTHEW: This is Joyce Anne. Denise's daughter. JOYCE ANNE: Good to see you all again. I knew we've talked at family holidays, but there weren't too many, right? ANNE: I am not worried about it. I am glad you are here now, and that is all that matters. Oh, here comes my children. Ben, Allegra, remember Joyce Anne? Your Aunt Denise's daughter. JOYCE ANNE: Good to see you all again. ALLEGRA: Very nice to see you again too, Joyce Anne. BEN: I agree. JOYCE ANNE: I heard you were married, Ben. BEN: Yes, I was. And it was excruciating. JOYCE ANNE: Why is that? BEN: Rhonda, my ex-wife, was cheating on me incessantly. JOYCE ANNE: Oh no. Who did she cheat on you with? BEN: Everyone with a penis, it seemed like. ALLEGRA: And that wasn't the worst part of it. Remember the Minzells? JOYCE ANNE: I do. ALLEGRA: Rhonda drove Anngelique's younger brother, Jamie to a nervous breakdown and had him institutionalized. (Enter: Anngelique) ANNGELIQUE: Yes, she did that. It took a few months, and we got him out of the sanitarium. I have hated Rhonda ever since. JOYCE ANNE: I don't blame you for that. MATTHEW: How is Jamie doing? ANNGELIQUE: He's doing a lot better. He and my ex-husband are together now. JOYCE ANNE: You and AJ split? ANNGELIQUE: Yes, we split up years ago. We're under a truce due to him and Jamie dating. MARGE: That is great. ANNGELIQUE: Yes, it is. (Enter Jamie and AJ) AJ: Hi there. JAMIE: Hi everyone, what a party! ANNGELIQUE: Hi, little brother. Hello, AJ. AJ: Hello there, Angie. JAMIE: Where's Jeff? ANNGELIQUE: He's talking with Adam and Dylan. (Jamie notices his brother talking with Adam and Dylan, as his sister saw.) JOYCE ANNE: Everyone's here. (Libby comes up) LIBBY: Dylan's parties are always memorable. SHEILA: True, there. (The party continues calmly. The scene fades.) Category:Episodes Category:Hall of Fame Episodes Category:Episodes featuring Dylan and Sheila Category:Episodes featuring Anngelique Minzell Category:Episodes featuring Anyssa and Susannah Category:Episodes featuring Jacqueline Haller